Siam2012-10-15 08:27:39
Someone create a guide for dummies please.
Kagato2012-10-15 08:31:38
Working on info as I figure out all the nuances to it myself, but I need a couple of people with decent collections as well that can work with me and play some more matches.
Frequently asked questions:
What ARE Ikons?
Ikons are collectibles used for the new psychodramatics/gestalt game in Lusternia. As well as needing ikons, you also need training in Dramatics. You can start playing with as little as 'firstgestalt', which requires a mere 7 lessons in Dramatics, which lets you build a gestalt using 1 scene, 1 character and 1 prop, up to seventhgestalt, requiring somewhere in Mythical rank dramatics, which lets you use 3 of each. Naturally having more of each type lets you come up with more combinations and potentially more powerful attacks, or at the very least more flexibility.
How do I obtain Ikons?
Ikons are obtained through 2 key ways - first (and easiest) is buying them using credits. They currently cost a flat rate of 4 credits per ikon, minimum package is 5 ikons, no discount for bulk purchases. The other method is by doing quests, certain quests have a chance of yielding an ikon of the matching element, so for example killing a large number of earth plane residents may yield an earth ikon, while empowering the water lords may yield a water ikon. The current types available are Earth/Fire/Air/Water/Village/Eternal (Eternal come from larger ikon packages and (unconfirmed) from special events.)
How do I develop a suitable gestalt?
Developing a gestalt requires a decent bit of strategy and planning, plus it is recommended that you have more than one setup available to you. Ideally after you have decided what character/s you wish to use, you should plan your scenes and props around them, to compliment their ability or to hinder your opponent as best you can. Keep in mind that some characters have a substantial cooldown after using their attack, be careful not to have all your characters as ones that have cooldowns otherwise you may find yourself helpless for one or more rounds, which can make all the difference in winning and losing.
An example of complimenting your characters - If your character is one that deals Arcane type damage, you obviously do not want a prop that boosts spirit type damage. If you are going to have a powerful character that can deal a lot of damage but has a long cooldown, perhaps support it with a character that has a high stun chance, giving you a clear opening to let rip with it - while the opponent is stunned they can not play ANY ikons for the next turn, meaning you effectively get a free blow - so MAKE IT COUNT!
What other benefits does constructing a gestalt yield?
Developing a gestalt, when you have the appropriate training in dramatics, will give you a passive defense for a set type of influencing, being charity/paranoia/weakening/empowering/seduction/village/parley in that order from first to seventhgestalt. Note: The benefits stack, so if you have the fifthgestalt defense, you will also have the defenses for first, second, third and fourth. As to what it does, it reduces the amount of ego lost in an ego battle, up to a maximum of 25%, assuming you have a full set of 9 legendary ikons active. (needs to be confirmed)
What does "Timewarp" do?
Depending on the ikon text, it can be used in either an offensive or defensive fashion - some ikons let you forego causing any damage that round in return for causing up to 150% unblockable damage the next turn, other defensive ikons will delay an opponents attack, again until the start of the next turn, while also reducing it by a set percentage (for example down to 75%)
I played an ikon but it was neutralised! What gives?
Just like you can attack, they can also use their ikons to prevent you using them! Certain ikons, usually props, have a chance of neutralising a scene, prop or character, this can range from 30% up to 80% (unconfirmed), though naturally higher percentages will come at the cost of initiative or a higher power cost. It all comes down to risk vs reward.
But.. but... now I can't play ANY ikons!
Ok, this isn't really a question, but just like props can neutralise ikons, characters can also stun the opponent, if this connects, it will prevent the other player using ANY ikons in their next turn. For this reason, the chance of it connecting is fairly low (unconfirmed, but seems to be no higher than 50% chance)
How much of a experience increase do I get from consuming an ikon?
It depends on the rarity. Common: 10% increase. Uncommon: 25% increase. Rare: 50% increase. Epic: 100% increase. Legendary: 200% increase
IMPORTANT: This increase ONLY applies to INFLUENCING. It does not apply to hunting or aetherhunting!
Frequently asked questions:
What ARE Ikons?
Ikons are collectibles used for the new psychodramatics/gestalt game in Lusternia. As well as needing ikons, you also need training in Dramatics. You can start playing with as little as 'firstgestalt', which requires a mere 7 lessons in Dramatics, which lets you build a gestalt using 1 scene, 1 character and 1 prop, up to seventhgestalt, requiring somewhere in Mythical rank dramatics, which lets you use 3 of each. Naturally having more of each type lets you come up with more combinations and potentially more powerful attacks, or at the very least more flexibility.
How do I obtain Ikons?
Ikons are obtained through 2 key ways - first (and easiest) is buying them using credits. They currently cost a flat rate of 4 credits per ikon, minimum package is 5 ikons, no discount for bulk purchases. The other method is by doing quests, certain quests have a chance of yielding an ikon of the matching element, so for example killing a large number of earth plane residents may yield an earth ikon, while empowering the water lords may yield a water ikon. The current types available are Earth/Fire/Air/Water/Village/Eternal (Eternal come from larger ikon packages and (unconfirmed) from special events.)
Estarra:
I should point out that though there is no discount for bulk purchases, you do get more Eternal ikons in the higher credit packages. Eternal ikons match any other suit (fire, earth, village, etc.) and have a slightly lower power activation cost.
How do I develop a suitable gestalt?
Developing a gestalt requires a decent bit of strategy and planning, plus it is recommended that you have more than one setup available to you. Ideally after you have decided what character/s you wish to use, you should plan your scenes and props around them, to compliment their ability or to hinder your opponent as best you can. Keep in mind that some characters have a substantial cooldown after using their attack, be careful not to have all your characters as ones that have cooldowns otherwise you may find yourself helpless for one or more rounds, which can make all the difference in winning and losing.
An example of complimenting your characters - If your character is one that deals Arcane type damage, you obviously do not want a prop that boosts spirit type damage. If you are going to have a powerful character that can deal a lot of damage but has a long cooldown, perhaps support it with a character that has a high stun chance, giving you a clear opening to let rip with it - while the opponent is stunned they can not play ANY ikons for the next turn, meaning you effectively get a free blow - so MAKE IT COUNT!
What other benefits does constructing a gestalt yield?
Developing a gestalt, when you have the appropriate training in dramatics, will give you a passive defense for a set type of influencing, being charity/paranoia/weakening/empowering/seduction/village/parley in that order from first to seventhgestalt. Note: The benefits stack, so if you have the fifthgestalt defense, you will also have the defenses for first, second, third and fourth. As to what it does, it reduces the amount of ego lost in an ego battle, up to a maximum of 25%, assuming you have a full set of 9 legendary ikons active. (needs to be confirmed)
What does "Timewarp" do?
Depending on the ikon text, it can be used in either an offensive or defensive fashion - some ikons let you forego causing any damage that round in return for causing up to 150% unblockable damage the next turn, other defensive ikons will delay an opponents attack, again until the start of the next turn, while also reducing it by a set percentage (for example down to 75%)
I played an ikon but it was neutralised! What gives?
Just like you can attack, they can also use their ikons to prevent you using them! Certain ikons, usually props, have a chance of neutralising a scene, prop or character, this can range from 30% up to 80% (unconfirmed), though naturally higher percentages will come at the cost of initiative or a higher power cost. It all comes down to risk vs reward.
But.. but... now I can't play ANY ikons!
Ok, this isn't really a question, but just like props can neutralise ikons, characters can also stun the opponent, if this connects, it will prevent the other player using ANY ikons in their next turn. For this reason, the chance of it connecting is fairly low (unconfirmed, but seems to be no higher than 50% chance)
How much of a experience increase do I get from consuming an ikon?
It depends on the rarity. Common: 10% increase. Uncommon: 25% increase. Rare: 50% increase. Epic: 100% increase. Legendary: 200% increase
IMPORTANT: This increase ONLY applies to INFLUENCING. It does not apply to hunting or aetherhunting!
Siam2012-10-15 10:16:34
I am trying to build my first gestalt but I have to get credits and do some questing!
Kagato2012-10-15 11:10:56
Don't forget that by posting comments on the ironrealms.com articles you can earn a bound credit every day.
Estarra2012-10-15 17:12:54
Kagato:
They currently cost a flat rate of 4 credits per ikon, minimum package is 5 ikons, no discount for bulk purchases.
I should point out that though there is no discount for bulk purchases, you do get more Eternal ikons in the higher credit packages. Eternal ikons match any other suit (fire, earth, village, etc.) and have a slightly lower power activation cost.
Llandros2012-10-18 15:12:08
Important things that helped me understand the game
All ikons have a group, one of earth, fire, air, water, village or eternal. They also have a type of character, prop or scene.
Only the icons of the same type have to be the same group. So like 3 water characters, 3 air props and 3 fire scenes would work just fine. You don't have to have all 9 ikons be the same group but you can if you want.
Eternal ikons are like group wild cards in that they can go with any other group.
Also, pay very close attention to inititive!
If your character has an initive of 2 and the buff to make it's attack stronger has an initive of 3 then it isn't going to do anything.
A prop with an inititive of 5 that gives a 100% chance to block a scene is 100% worthless. Even if the scene was also 5 inititive, very unlikely, scenes of the same inititive always fire before props. A prop to neutralize a character that goes before it does is also not helpful.
You can play something even though it is on it's cooldown. It just won't do anything. So pay attention to what is available and don't just spam the same 3 ikons every turn if any have a cooldown.
rarity =/= good
It just means how likely or unlikely it is to come up when someone gets a random ikon. It does seem that the rare ikons are a little more likely to have more dramatic effects but they are not always helpful ones.
All ikons have a group, one of earth, fire, air, water, village or eternal. They also have a type of character, prop or scene.
Only the icons of the same type have to be the same group. So like 3 water characters, 3 air props and 3 fire scenes would work just fine. You don't have to have all 9 ikons be the same group but you can if you want.
Eternal ikons are like group wild cards in that they can go with any other group.
Also, pay very close attention to inititive!
If your character has an initive of 2 and the buff to make it's attack stronger has an initive of 3 then it isn't going to do anything.
A prop with an inititive of 5 that gives a 100% chance to block a scene is 100% worthless. Even if the scene was also 5 inititive, very unlikely, scenes of the same inititive always fire before props. A prop to neutralize a character that goes before it does is also not helpful.
You can play something even though it is on it's cooldown. It just won't do anything. So pay attention to what is available and don't just spam the same 3 ikons every turn if any have a cooldown.
rarity =/= good
It just means how likely or unlikely it is to come up when someone gets a random ikon. It does seem that the rare ikons are a little more likely to have more dramatic effects but they are not always helpful ones.
Unknown2012-10-18 18:35:33
Other things to keep in mind: Each round, it says you "can play up to 3 ikons". What that actually means is that you can play 0-1 characters, 0-1 props and 0-1 scenes. You can't play, for example, 3 scenes or 2 characters and a prop. But you can play a scene, a character and no props. And there may even be times where you want to do that because you don't want to spend the power or use a card that has a cooldown at the wrong time or any other reason.
Iosai2012-10-19 11:49:45
Llandros:
You can play something even though it is on it's cooldown. It just won't do anything. So pay attention to what is available and don't just spam the same 3 ikons every turn if any have a cooldown.
This should not be the case so I will see what's happening and fix it.
Eventru2012-10-19 13:38:13
Llandros:
rarity =/= good
It just means how likely or unlikely it is to come up when someone gets a random ikon. It does seem that the rare ikons are a little more likely to have more dramatic effects but they are not always helpful ones.
The rarity of a card is based off a combination of its strength and its initiative. Indeed, simply because a card is very rare doesn't mean it's useful, but it does mean it's powerful.
Llandros2012-10-19 17:29:27
Iosai:
I know that most (if not all) of the bugs I find are the ones crawling under my skin while I thrash around in a straight jacket but I'll keep an eye out for it.
Unknown2012-10-20 00:15:51
Iosai:
This should not be the case so I will see what's happening and fix it.
I - think- what happens is that if you play something with a CD and it gets blocked, it doesn't go through CD. I don't know if that's a bug or not.
